


Trial and Error

by Kuroeia (Empatheia)



Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-19
Updated: 2007-07-19
Packaged: 2017-11-08 15:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/444706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Empatheia/pseuds/Kuroeia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No room for hesitation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trial and Error

Saving a life, Ichigo understood suddenly one day while flat on his back with a sword at his throat, was not something that could be done half-assed.

Going in waving his gigantic sword with the intention to _be a hero_ and _save the day_ wouldn't do anything but get him killed, and nobody would be saved at all then. He was dangerously close to dying right now, probably only half a breath and a solitary inch away if he was lucky. The other blade was brilliantly sharp and had no doubts whatsoever, unlike his own.

If by some chance he managed to survive, he would never be able to live with himself this way.

Ichigo decided.

Reaching up with a hand that didn't shake, he caught the blade between his fingers and pulled it down into the earth beside his head. "Sorry, not yet," he told his almost-slayer, and then was gone into the sky with hardly a ripple in the air.

No matter how much the blood of the dead stained his hands, he could not allow himself to regret or be guilty if he was here to save her. It would be an insult to her and to every person he fought along the way to reaching her if he felt sorry for those who fell to his resolve.

His blade was nearly invisible in the half-light of the world-that-wasn't, moving with a speed and surety that had escaped him before. No regrets. No guilt. Only the decision to walk forward.

This was how to save a life properly.

Ichigo would not forget it again.

**X**

 

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by: ypaladinofchaos  
> Prompt: how to save a life


End file.
